Naminé tucked her legs in carefully back against her chair, arranging her books neatly on the tiny desk attached to her seat. Her binder was blue and with the words University of Twilight Town embossed in gold on the front. The school logo and motto were detailed in smaller font just below the name. No loose notes stuck out from within the book, perfectly arranged as they were. It wasn't because she was a perfectionist or something equally ridiculous, just that it was a habit instilled when she was little to keep her notes organized for easy reference.
She leaned down and shoved her hat and scarf under her chair, onto the silver grill-basket underneath so that they were effectively out of her way. Next she leaned down and fished around inside her bag for her pencil case, with her very recently combed blonde hair falling over her shoulders, hiding her face from view. Her hearing remained unimpaired, however, and she still caught a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye.
"'Morning, Naminé," Roxas said amiably, loudly.
She raised her head and smiled, not quite looking him in the eyes. "Hi, Roxas," she replied, equally cheerfully though in a much softer voice. Her fingers brushed over her pencil case and she pulled it out with a fluid movement and sat up straighter in her chair. She unzipped it and pulled out two pens: one red, one blue.
"Did you have a good weekend?" Roxas asked politely with a wide smile as he dropped his bag to the ground and took his usual seat in front of her. "Anything exciting happen?"
She nodded slowly. "It was good," she agreed. "Busy, of course. I had a lot of homework to do, so I didn't really do anything very exciting."
Roxas nodded absently, turning away almost simultaneously and striking up a friendly conversation with Demyx and Axel who sat in the row beside them. Naminé didn't really know the two of them very well—she knew only a few people in the class, and they barely counted as acquaintances. She didn't even know Roxas very well, truth be told. He'd been in one of her classes the term before but she hadn't sat anywhere near him and spoken to him less than half a dozen times during that whole term.
And then, suddenly, he took to sitting with her in this class and doing their group work together. She wasn't sure if it was because he recognized her from their last class and had taken pity on her being so obviously alone. He himself couldn't possibly have been shy or nervous in this class; he evidently knew Demyx and Axel on reasonably well terms, judging by the way they spoke with such familiarity. Nor was he one to not speak to others, make new friends. He wasn't a loudmouth, per se, but he wasn't shy.
Not like Naminé.
We're so different, she thought morosely, absently twirling her blue pen between her slim fingers. I can't understand why he would be so nice to me when...when...
She let the thought hang, unsure herself of what she meant. Roxas was very kind person, bright as the sun itself. He talked to everybody, and everyone loved him. Naminé couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't like Roxas—she'd only just started to get to know him and already she loved him too. He was always smiling, always joking and laughing, and was, in general, a happy person to spend your time with.
"No, Ax," she heard him laugh, "No way! Dude, you're such an idiot. You comin' after class?"
Axel shook his head emphatically, his bright red hair shaking like a big, bushy mane. "Can't, Rox. I've got class with ol' man Xemnas. I hate Poly Sci, but damn, it's a joke with him." He paused. "But I can't afford to fail his midterm."
She heard Demyx snicker from up a little further and a dull thunk as Axel clapped the back of his head with the palm of his hand. Roxas—unsurprisingly—laughed. Naminé bit back another sigh and bowed her head down as she leafed through her binder for blank sheets of loose-leaf paper and her homework from the previous class. She traced her pen across the top right corner of the page to mark down the date and wrote the course code in the top left corner. It wasn't really necessary, but she needed something to do other than stare at the back of Roxas's head.
"So, Naminé," Roxas said, turning around in his seat, blue eyes bright. It occurred to her that his eyes would be very pretty to paint. She could imagine just what colours to mix to get just the right shade. "You know that the annual ball for the English Department is coming up, right?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes. It's not for a little more than a month yet, though, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Roxas agreed. "Well, I'm part of the planning committee and shit, so I'm pretty much in charge of getting everything together and organized. So, I have a proposition for you." He stared at her seriously for a moment. Naminé wasn't quite sure what to say so she remained quiet. She seemed to do that a lot around Roxas. "You're a Studio Arts major right? Would you be interested in designing the poster to promote it?"
"M-me?" Naminé squeaked, nearly dropping her pen due to sheer surprise. She could feel her face going pink and tried to ignore the heat in her cheeks. Her? Help out Roxas? Naminé would never have expected such an opportunity to come up, and she knew she'd be a fool not to seize it. "I-I'd love to help out, if I could, but...surely there are better artists than me."
"I'm planning a lot of different things for promoting the event but we need a poster and the rest of us on the committee are crap at art. You're the first one I thought of for the project. So, you'll do it?"
His eyes were doing that thing again. Staring intently. Bright, bright blue. How could she even think of saying 'no'? She was sitting in an over-crowded classroom, conversations floating around them, and it all seemed a little surreal. She was vaguely aware of Axel and Demyx carrying on a loud conversation and she could hear Yuffie giggling from the other side of the room. But it was Roxas who mattered right now, Roxas who was talking to her, and even now, she wasn't really used to that. He was Roxas, and she had never expected to speak to him on a pretty regular basis. "I'd love to do it," Naminé assured him, smiling what she hoped was her best smile. "Thank you for the offer."
"No, no, thank you, Naminé," Roxas grinned. "You're the best, really."
"When do you need it done by?"
He thought for a moment. "Let's see...it's scheduled for the Friday before Valentine's Day, so maybe within a week and a half, if you can? Two weeks from today at the absolute latest."
She nodded, her platinum hair catching the light from the window as it moved across her shoulders. He couldn't tell, but her heart was pounding so forcefully against her chest that she felt that she might burst. Her face had lit up and her hands itched with a sudden urge to grab her pencil and begin to trace out preliminary sketches. She opened her mouth to reply but closed it again without saying a word because Roxas had already turned around again and begun to joke around with Axel again, and wouldn't hear what she said anyway.
It hurt, just a bit. But Naminé didn't mind it.
Warnings: Possible background Riku/Sora, possible implications of Roxas/Axel and Roxas/Xion; in fact, there are numerous possible implications with Roxas. Possible unrequited love between Roxas/Naminé. Possible light background Xion bashing. If any of these things bother you, then you may want to reconsider reading any further.
A/N: To clear up a few things: The story will be told in short, vingette-like chapters in order to attempt to preserve the (hopefully) deeper exploration of a girl's feelings towards a guy she likes. This story will be told in snapshot's of Naminé's life, some directly following from the previous, some not. I won't make a secret of the fact I can't stand Xion, so if Roxas seems overly-harsh with her, that will be why, but I won't bash her all the time, and certainly not that much, though please do not be surprised or overly offended when this comes up; it's all in good fun; I have nothing against her, really, I just don't like her. There will be no Birth By Sleep characters or spoilers in this fic, so please, if you leave a review, don't bring them up with spoilers. Much as I would love to include Ven, Terra, and Aqua, I don't want to mutilate their characters before I know anything substantial about them.
This is an AU story, in case that wasn't yet apparent. Therefore, things are what I say they are, and so I hope you enjoy my take on things. I also feel that I should note here that this story is primarily being used for catharsis purposes of my own and it is based off of my own life. No, not all of the events that happen to Naminé are exactly what happened to me, but most of them are inspired by my own experiences: due to this, some of the characters may seem slightly OOC. Please bear with me if that seems to be the case since writing this story is primarily for my own benefit, a place where I can express some of my own tumultuous feelings in words (other than the lengthy posts I make about them in my LJ). I hope you do enjoy this, though, regardless.
More than likely, knowing my habits, this will not be updated on a regular basis. I have a fair amount written right now, but I only write and update when the mood strikes me. I'll try to keep it active, but I won't make any promises. Sporadic, random updates are more likely than not. But I don't intend to stop this until I've figured out my own feelings a little more. I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me.
I love reviews. If you feel so inclined, I'd love it if you dropped a line or two for me. They really make my day. Any suggestions or concerns you have, I'll address for sure :) And really well...I just love hearing what you have to say, so don't be shy!
Until next time, then!
